Why Was David Not Executed for Adultery and Murder?
Our question for this issue of the News has to do with David’s sin with Bathsheba: “If Old Testament law required that all murderers and adulterers be stoned to death, why was David not executed for his (known) sins of adultery and murder? Was he above the law? Did the law not apply to him? Did his merely being sorry for his deeds absolve him of any liability to capital punishment?”
The readers of the News have a knack for asking difficult questions. There are times when the questions leave me a bit dismayed because of their difficulty. Sometimes I have to work on them and think about them for quite a while. Nevertheless, I appreciate them, since they force me to look into things I have never considered before and to study the Word of God anew.
The law requiring the execution of an adulterer is found in Leviticus 20:10: “And the man that committeth adultery with another man’s wife, even he that committeth adultery with his neighbour’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death” (cf. Deut. 22:22).
The law of Moses requiring the death of a murderer is found in Leviticus 24:17: “And he that killeth any man shall surely be put to death” (cf. Ex. 21:12-14; Num. 35:16-21).
In the ordinances given to Noah after the flood, God established the death penalty for murder long before the Mosaic law: “Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man” (Gen. 9:6). The fact that in the beginning men and women (unlike animals) were created in the likeness and image of God (1:26-27) is one of the reasons why there ought to be a death penalty for murder in our day also. Paul writes, “if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil” (Rom. 13:4; cf. Acts 25:11).
All this, however, does not answer our question, since it should be evident from all these passages that David fully deserved the death penalty for his crimes. Why then was he not put to death either by God or by man?
Is the king above the law? Some argue for that position and use the example of David as proof. Many kings and rulers have taken that view of themselves, and have used the notion that they are above the law as an excuse for gross wickedness. In the United States, sitting presidents have immunity from civil and criminal charges regarding their official acts and duties. Is this why David was not punished?
It should be noted that one’s high position in commonwealth or church does not excuse one’s sins but rather aggravates them. This is clearly set forth from Scripture in Westminster Larger Catechism, Questions and Answers 150 and 151. David’s sins were worse because of his lofty office of king, because he broke the express letter of the law of God, because they were a public scandal (II Sam. 12:14) and because they involved the complicity of others, Bathsheba and Joab. There was, and is, no excuse for David’s sins.
David himself admitted that he was worthy of death when, after hearing Nathan’s parable of the rich man who took the poor man’s lamb, he said, “As the Lord liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die” (5). That he deserved death was also Nathan’s word to him after he repented: “The Lord also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die” (13). There is no ground in the story of David’s sins in II Samuel 11-12 for the foolish notion that any man, ruler or ruled, is above the law of God.
Especially in the church, there must be penalties for gross and public sins committed by an ecclesiastical leader: deposition from office and, if he remains impenitent, excommunication, the church’s equivalent of the death penalty. No one is immune. Indeed, the penalties for an office-bearer ought to be more severe (including removal from ecclesiastical office), because his position and example aggravate his sin.
David escaped the death penalty, as II Samuel 12:13 indicates, only because God was merciful to him and for no other reason. That God put away his sin simply means that God forgave him as David himself confesses, “I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin” (Ps. 32:5).
There are a number of things that must be said about the mercy that was shown to David. He avoided the death penalty, as well as the eternal penalty for sin, but he did not escape totally unscathed. The son whom he had begotten with Bathsheba died, as Nathan had prophesied (II Sam. 12:14, 18). Moreover, God told David through Nathan, “Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house; because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife. Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house, and I will take thy wives before thine eyes, and give them unto thy neighbour, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun. For thou didst it secretly: but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun” (10-12). David suffered the consequences of his sin for the rest of his life. God is merciful, but He is also just and He will not be mocked. He will always show that He hates sin and does not overlook it.
Jehovah shows the same mercy that He manifested to David to other great sinners also, three of whom especially come to mind. One was the woman taken in adultery (John 8:1-11). Jesus, though He never indicated that the woman did not deserve death, was interested first in exposing the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. When their hypocrisy was exposed, He showed divine mercy to the woman when He said to her, “Neither do I condemn thee” (11). Lest anyone think, however, that He did not care about the sins that the woman had committed, He told her also to sin no more (11).
Another was Paul the persecutor. Regarding himself, he says, “Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief” (I Tim. 1:13).
A third to whom such mercy has been shown is the poor sinner who has written this article, a sinner whose sins are far worse than David’s or Paul’s and whose sins are aggravated by so many things. Great mercy has been shown to him also.
This is to say that everyone of us deserves not just the death penalty for the sins he commits but deserves far worse. Blasphemy, murder, adultery and such like deserve the death penalty, and are we not all guilty of such sins, if not publicly, then in our hearts and thoughts? Are not the wages of sin, any sin, all sin, eternal death (Rom. 6:23)?
“Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire” (Matt. 5:21-22). Who is blameless?
“Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart” (27-28). Who is not in need of mercy?
What can anyone say to excuse himself or herself? Shall I complain about the mercy shown to David when I am in as great need of mercy as he was? Is not my insisting that David deserved the death penalty only my self-condemnation? If I am not the publican in the parable of Jesus “standing afar off, [who] would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner” (Luke 18:13), then who am I?
What Nathan said to David is not only the explanation why Israel’s king was not put to death for his crimes but it is also the gospel, the only good news that sinners under condemnation and in danger of eternal judgment will ever hear: “The Lord also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die” (II Sam. 12:13). Nor is there any reason for such amazing mercy but a cross set on a hill outside Jerusalem, where once our Lord was crucified. That mercy is not shown to those whose sins are less than the sins of others or who are less deserving of eternal condemnation, but it is shown to all who repent and believe in Him who died on that cross.
Because we are such terrible sinners that none of us would ever repent and believe of ourselves, the God of all grace and the Father of mercies grants repentance and faith to some (Acts 11:18; Eph. 2:8; Phil. 1:29). He does this so that they may say with David, “Many sorrows shall be to the wicked: but he that trusteth in the Lord, mercy shall compass him about. Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart” (Ps. 32:10-11). Rev. Ron Hanko
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